In Between The Lines
by The Alpaca Dodo Duo
Summary: The bodyguards to the Aka and Midori royal families meet for the first time. Part of The Land of Many Bridges AU.


Tetsuya's favourite place in the kingdom of Midori was the royal library. It was where he always ended up, whenever he accompanied Prince Seijuurou to the island for diplomatic visits. This summer the first two days of their trip had been taken up by the usual courtesy calls and afternoon teas and dull court sessions, but today was the third day and Tetsuya finally had time to himself.

Shortly after breakfast he walked across the palace courtyard to the elegant stone hall that housed the royal library. As was usual this early in the day, the place was almost deserted; there was a single librarian sitting at the front desk, a young woman who didn't even notice as Tetsuya came in.

He silently made his way past the rows of shelves to the back of the hall, to the areas where the tomes and scrolls on magic where kept.

To his surprise there was another boy there, about his age. The boy was sitting casually on a stack of cushions piled up on the rug, his head bent over a book.

Tetsuya paused, wondering whether or not to greet him. The decision was taken out of his hands when the other boy looked up, gave a quick grin, and said, "Good morning."

They exchanged glances. Tetsuya was surprised. It wasn't usual for someone to notice him when he wasn't deliberately trying to be noticed.

"Good morning," he said, studying the strange boy curiously.

"I'm Takao Kazunari." Takao unfolded himself from his sitting position and walked over to Tetsuya, sticking out his hand. "You're Kuroko Tetsuya. I've seen you around with the delegation from Aka."

It was even more unusual for someone to notice Tetsuya when he hadn't noticed them first.

They shook hands. Tetsuya looked up at Takao, who had longish hair and clever eyes, and wore a kimono made from plain but good quality cloth. He was probably from a Good family then, although he couldn't belong to one of the prominent noble houses, else Tetsuya would have heard of him.

"You don't recognise me," Takao said, a little amused.

Tetsuya shook his head. "I am very sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about. In fact, I'd be disappointed if you spotted me that easily.". Takao flashed another smile, bright and quicksilver. "I only came to court three months ago. I serve the royal family. I guess you could call me a shadow."

A shadow. "I see," said Tetsuya.

"We're similar in a lot of ways, you know."

Tetsuya thought about it. Takao was taller than him, and probably stronger. His palms bore the telltale calluses of frequent sword practice. Tetsuya had no doubt that Takao was faster and much better at close combat than he was.

It seemed strange for Takao to be comparing himself to Tetsuya.

"You seem surprised," Takao commented. "Let's see, I bet you spend a lot of your time keeping people out of trouble."

That was true, although entirely. "It's more like keeping one person out of trouble," Tetsuya corrected.

Takao shrugged. "Whoops, my bad. I meant one person, of course. I was just trying to be careful. Do you spend a lot of time keeping your prince alive?"

Tetsuya considered the last four years of his life, and the vast and varied collection of zombies, killer bees, magical explosions, poisoned banquets, truth potions, air pirates, incompetent smugglers, competent wild bears, vengeful courtiers, cunning ministers, and worst of all,angry parents, that had populated it.

"...Yes," he said.

"Does he ever admit it when he makes a mistake?"

"...No."

"Does he constantly do and say things that get people angry at him?"

"I think that's just your prince, not mine," answered Tetsuya after a moment's consideration.

"I see," Takao pressed his lips together thoughtfully "Anyway, what brings you to the library this early in the morning?"

"I like books," answered Tetsuya. "I came here to read."

"And to escape from Prince Seijuurou?"

Tetsuya shrugged.

"Fair enough." Takao settled back on the cushions. "I came here because Shin-chan plans to spend the entire morning on the archery range. I can only take watching so many perfect bull's eyes. I've never been much of a reader, though, but it doesn't hurt to self-study a little magic now and again. What kind of spells are you studying?"

"It's not...spells exactly." Tetsuya was guarded again. He wasn't sure whether it was okay to tell the other boy about his current subject of study. After all, it was a secret between him and Seijuurou. Even if it wasn't a particularly special secret.

("Being invisible and observant," Seijuurou had said. "Isn't that what you're best at?")

Instead he went over and picked out the book he had been reading, the last time he came to Aka, from its place on a dusty shelf. Then he settled down on the rug near where Takao was sitting.

"The Art of Human Observation," said Takao, reading aloud. "That's some interesting studying you're doing there. Some kind of combat technique."

"Not exactly," said Tetsuya. "But it's something I need to learn. So that I can figure out how to protect the people I need to protect."

"You're very dutiful." Takao leaned back against the cushions. "You sure that your prince needs that much protection? From all appearances he's pretty good at at looking after himself."

"Does Prince Shintarou need your protection?" returned Tetsuya.

"Ouch. Touche." Takao placed his half-finished book on the rug next to him, lying open. "I guess Shin-chan doesn't really need protection from other people. More from his own stupidity. And his terrible diplomatic skills."

That was a near-perfect assessment of Prince Shintarou, as far as Tetsuya could tell. As for Seijuurou...

"The Akashi family are not the only ones I need to protect," said Kuroko.

Takao's eyes widened a little. "You've got another secret, haven't you? You're an interesting sort of bodyguard, Kuroko Tetsuya. And not just because Shin-chan respects you, when he doesn't respect anyone at all."

"That's not true," said Tetsuya. "He respects you."

Takao raised a brow. "And you know that because?"

"I can't imagine Prince Shintarou allowing anyone he didn't respect to be his shadow."

Takao's widened a little and then he smiled. "Guess that's true. It's good to meet you finally, Kuroko Tetsuya. You know, ever since Shin-chan first told me about you, I've felt like we were fated friends, in a weird way."

"...No one's ever said that to me before." Tetsuya said.

"Is that so?"

"...but I think I know what you mean," Tetsuya continued.

They looked at each other, exchanged quick smiles, and then passed a quiet day together in the library – at least until lunchtime, which was when Seijuurou began yet another of his routine attempts to get himself and Shintarou killed.


End file.
